Your first deer rifle?

[Ringbill27]

What was your very first deer rifle?

Mine was a mossberg 500 410ga with a smooth bore barrel and iron sights. It’s a great grouse gun but not a deer killer. 2 minute of deer isn’t really good for me.

My very first rifle was handed down to me from my grandfather, which was a Win 94 in 30WCF. Up until me receiving this rifle I’d been hunting 8-9years and had only shot a fawn. Within 3 days of owning it I shot two bucks.

I love that rifle but it’s become more of a safe queen these days. I’ve come up spicy load using the Hornady 140gr Monoflex and leverevolution that I’d like to try one of these days.

 

[Boarmaster]

I bought a new Marlin 30-30 for $125 if I recall correctly. After using it a little more than a year I came into a like new Ruger M77 Tang Safety 30-06 with a tasco scope for $100. I consider the Ruger my first deer rifle. I bought a new Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40 scope at a gun show for $90 and put it on before my first hunt. I bought a VX3 3.5-10x40 for it at some point. The VX3 is still on it. One of the last years a gloss VX3s was offered.

I used that rifle for deer and hogs for approx 10-12 years and my cousin used it five years after when he would come down to hunt every year with me.

Its still a usable and solid rifle but I moved on to different chambering (270 and 7mm08 ) and toward stainless and high quality weatherproof stocks.

Best $100 I ever spent. Dumb luck really as back then I didn't have a clue what I needed and no mentor to tell me. No internet or forums back then. You got info from mentors or other hunters or the occasional hunting mag you bought at the grocery store. And you learned almost everything by experience and trial and error. With all the info available today its almost unbelievable how we learned things back then. That was in the 80s and 90s.

 

[Ringbill27]

I bought a new Marlin 30-30 for $125 if I recall correctly. After using it a little more than a year I came into a like new Ruger M77 Tang Safety 30-06 with a tasco scope for $100.

Wow those are really great prices on both those rifles! Mentors are getting hard to find these days.

 

[Ditt44]

My dad had an early 1960s Remington 760 carbine in .308 and I still have that rifle and it's as accurate as it ever was. A wonderful and handy rifle. However... when I turned 12 my uncle loaned me his 22-250 for the season and at 13 dad bought me a wood and steel club in .308.

That rifle weighed approximately 327 pounds. It as a Remington and I can't recall the model (1980s). It was a bolt action carbine and I hated everything about it. Heavy, thick, inaccurate as far as I was concerned. Nothing to like about it. I sold it years later and have used his 760 ever since.

 

[KenLee]

Remington 742 in 30-06 that I bought when I was 11. Shot at 98 deer and ate 97 of them.

 

[Aviator04]

Ruger Tang 30-06 was my first. People thought I was crazy since I was young but that’s all I knew to shoot.


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[Billogna]

Dad left me a Belgian Browning BAR in .243 topped with a 4x Weaver scope. I took my first deer with it at 40 years old. It's since been packed away in the safe. It'll probably come out again when my oldest son is ready to shoot his first.

 

[Rich M]

742 30-06. Then Win 70 30-06. Too much gun for a kid.

Shooting a Ruger 350 Legend these days.

 

[longspeak74]

My first rifle was actually a Marlin lever 30-30 that originally was my mom's. That little gun has slayed a lot of deer over the years.

 

[Raghornklr]

Savage 110j in .270 win

 

[KenLee]

742 30-06. Then Win 70 30-06. Too much gun for a kid.

Shooting a Ruger 350 Legend these days.

Go from a light single shot 12 ga shooting slugs and a 742 is gravy.

 

[Old-Cat]

336 marlin chambered in 44 mag, it was my Dad’s gun.

 

[pertnear]

My 1st deer fell to a Savage 99 .250-3000 with a Williams receiver peep sight. The rifle was a hand-me-down from my older brother who had shot his 1st deer with it. It was a take-down model but someone had "pinned" it solid to remove the slop. Dad had bought it from a fella at work for $75. I wish I still had that rifle but not too many years after I shot my deer someone ran sacked the house & stole it. But the memories remain....

 

[wirehead]

Remington 742 carbine in 30-06. Later was traded in for a browning BAR safari 30-06.

 

[LIWolverine]

I was 12 or 13yrs old and had saved up all my trapping money. I bought a Win Mod70 in .270 and a Leupold 3-9 Rifleman. Killed my first deer at 15 with it. Ive killed a lot of animals with that gun over the years. Been to Africa, Canada, Texas, Arkansas. Still have it but haven’t hunt with it for a while.


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[Dmoua]

Ruger Mark II M77 30-06. My dad surprised me with it the week before rifle opener my freshman year in high school. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It doesn’t get much use anymore but it has killed a lot of game.

 

[thinny]

Remington 760 Gamemaster .270 win

Was a gift from my grandpa. Shot my first nice buck with it.



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[TN2shot07]

I shot my first deer with a Savage 170 (30-30 pump).

My first rifle was an H&R single shot in 25-06, man that thing was dangerous with 100 grain corelokts. I re-scoped it a couple years ago, need to get it back in the woods.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Winchester M94 30-30, got it new from Bi-Mart as a birthday gift from my dad. It was one of the late 90s models with the safety across the hammer. I still have it.

 

[jcaud]

Got gifted a Savage 110 in 243 when I was like 6 years old. Still got that gun and it’s one of the most trustworthy in the safe!